Uniquely trustworthy - by Tom Tomorrow

[kpete]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/08/19/1231247/-Uniquely-trustworthy

[Aerows]

1. That was great.

Thanks for posting this Kpete.

[Coyotl]

2. Truth hurts!

[Fire Walk With Me]

3. LOL and K&R!

[2ndAmForComputers]

17. What the hell?

Please elaborate.

[Safetykitten]

5. Ouch!

[longship]

6. This Modern World!

Speaks truth.

I don't like it. But it is what it is.

R&K

[WillyT]

7. HUGE K & R !!!

[DirkGently]

14. He always seems to be tuned into current DU drama, too.

[Harmony Blue]

8. The drone looks so mellow

in this comic. o.O

[Maedhros]

16. Droney is your friend! [n/t]

[Solly Mack]

9. K&R

[DirkGently]

10. Perfection, as usual from TT. n/t

[raindaddy]

11. Embarrassing!

The most embarrassing moment to date in Obama's presidency..

[KG]

12. boy, that'll leave a mark.

[Hydra]

22. x2

This stuff writes itself lately...

[Bluenorthwest]

13. Tom Tomorrow, always spot on and yet again nails it.

Cute comic drones, of the sort Centrists dream of!!!!!!

[Octafish]

15. Gen Clapper is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life.

[Rain Mcloud]

38. I love the Manchurian Candidate

it lives on the top closet shelf with the Kubrick,Ridley Scott,Frank Capra,Scorsese,Coppola and Cohen Brothers movies to keep them out of the hands of the Grandkids.
I keep the Star Wars and Steven Spielberg crap-ola around just for them,which keeps them entertained.Ugh!

[Octafish]

54. Me too. Me too. Please put 'Seven Days in May' in a safe place...

Combat veteran and Hollywood hot-shot Rod Serling transformed "Seven Days in May" from a novel into a screenplay. The film starred Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster. Lisa Pease reminds us what President Kennedy and President Roosevelt faced from Big Money and Great Power -- the spectre of treason.

JFK, FDR and 'Seven Days in May'

By Lisa Pease
February 24, 2009

EXCERPT...

The film "Seven Days in May" began as a novel by Fletcher Knebel, inspired to a great degree by Knebel's conversations with Gen. Curtis LeMay, President Kennedy's contentious Air Force Chief of Staff who was furious at Kennedy for not sending in full military support during the Bay of Pigs incident.

Additionally, LeMay infamously argued during the Cuban Missile Crisis for a preemptive nuclear first-strike against the Soviet Union, a move Kennedy abhorred.

One of Kennedy's friends, Paul Fay, Jr., wrote in his book The Pleasure of His Company how one summer weekend in 1962, one of Kennedy's friends bought Knebel's book to his attention, and Kennedy read the book that night.

The next day, Kennedy discussed the plot with friends, who wanted to know if Kennedy felt such a scenario was possible. Bear in mind this was after the Bay of Pigs but before the Cuban Missile Crisis.

"It's possible," Kennedy acknowledged. "It could happen in this country, but the conditions would have to be just right. If, for example, the country had a young President, and he had a Bay of Pigs, there would be a certain uneasiness.

“Maybe the military would do a little criticizing behind his back, but this would be written off as the usual military dissatisfaction with civilian control. Then if there were another Bay of Pigs, the reaction of the country would be, 'Is he too young and inexperienced?'

“The military would almost feel that it was their patriotic obligation to stand ready to preserve the integrity of the nation, and only God knows just what segment of democracy they would be defending if they overthrew the elected establishment."

After a moment, Kennedy continued. "Then, if there were a third Bay of Pigs, it could happen."

CONTINUED...

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2009/022409a.html

President Jordan Lyman: All right, Colonel. Let's sum it up, shall we? You're suggesting what?

Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey: I'm not sure, Mr. President: just some possibilities, what we call, uh "capabilities" in military intelligence...

President Jordan Lyman: You got something against the English language, Colonel?

Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey: No, sir.

President Jordan Lyman: Then speak it plainly, if you will.

Colonel Martin "Jiggs" Casey: I'm suggesting, Mr. President, there's a military plot to take over the government. This may occur some time this coming Sunday.

More from DU: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2413300

[Rain Mcloud]

59. I admit that I do not have that one.

But it is now on the list.
Thanks.

[dickthegrouch]

18. I'm still wondering how secret law gets made

Doesn't it have to be debated in both houses, voted on by a quorum of members and signed, if passed?

Do they regularly hold 3am meetings in the White House basement?

[Egalitarian Thug]

26. Secret meetings, then secret negotiations to dole out the secret perks,

then the secret laws are secretly slipped into appropriation bills that nobody reads but everybody knows have to be passed.

[tclambert]

27. Well, first you XXX XXXX XXXXXXXXX, who then XXX XXX XXXXXXXXXXX,

then XXXX XXXXX XXX XXXXXX XXX, XXXX XX XX XX XXXXXX, and the XXXXXXXXX XXXXX XX. And hey, presto, you have your secret law!

[dickthegrouch]

56. DUzy Nomination

ROFLMAO

[mstinamotorcity2]

37. Dubya did it

all the time.

[truth2power]

20. Well, Tom Tomorrow goes under the bus, too. Can't have anyone

pointing out that our Emperor is buck nekkid! Poor Tom...maybe he just wanted a pony.

But seriously....isn't Obama even embarrassed to try to sell this load of crap to the American people? You appoint the guy who lies his ass off to Congress and call it an independent board?

Obama is mocking us. There's no doubt about it.

[Hydra]

23. It was a real 1% moment

"Trust me, I have Clapper dealing with it, go back to sleep..."

I don't consider President Obama a true 1%er- but damn if he didn't pull off a good facsimile thereof.

[bvar22]

31. The appointing of Clapper can NOT be interpreted in any other way except "mocking us".

It defies all reason.

Even IF President Obama believes that Clapper is the BEST operational, most trustworthy person for THIS job in the whole World,
can he possibly be this FUC**ING Tone Deaf to not realize that Clapper is the most recent and reviled celebrity LIAR on the national scene?

Surely he must realize that this ONE MAN is absolutely the LAST person in America who will inspire TRUST for this new "Oversight" agency.

[NealK]

41. It's like picking Cheney to investigate the previous administrations crimes.

[Enthusiast]

44. Or Larry Summers to head the Fed.

[Civilization2]

49. lol

[heaven05]

21. the only

thing I've learned over the the last 41 years of voting in the american system, power at that level corrupts absolutely, kills without mercy and destroys 'good' people.

[tblue37]

55. Alan Alda and Meryl Streep starred in a powerful film, "The Seduction of Joe Tynan,"

about a genuinely decent and well-meaning man who went into politics to truly represent the interests of the people, including the middle class and the downtrodden and disadvantaged. (The film was released in the 1980s, I think, though I am not sure.)

But by the time he was able to get into a position powerful enough to do some good, he found himself trapped, not just by the intractable system itself (though that was certainly part of it), but also by the innumerable small, usually "insignificant," compromises he'd had to make along the way, which were not really major missteps in themselves, but which when taken together added up to a kind of political prison that made it impossible for him to do most of the noble things he had entered politics to accomplish.

I believe this happens to the good guys that go into politics. If they aim for enough power to accomplish anything, they are compromised. If they resist those compromises, they end up as voices in the wilderness, like Kucinich and Sanders, who are marginalized to the point where they have no real power, or like Wellstone, if it looks as though they might actually influence public discourse to the point that there might be some movement in the right direction.

Back at DU2 I posted a thread suggesting that Obama might be a "stealth progressive," trying to get a reasonably progressive agenda off the ground while presenting himself to the real powers that be in a way that led them to believe him to be on their side.

Unfortunately, though, as Vonnegut shows in "Mother Night" and "Cat's Cradle," you have to be careful about such masks, because what you pretend to be--even if for the best, purest motives--can all too easily become what you actually are.

I believe Obama is trying to walk that narrow line, and that he has accomplished a lot of progressive changes along the way. But I also believe that he often slips off to the dark side of the line, not because he necessarily wants to comfort the comfortable and afflict the afflicted, but because he has a tiger by the tail, and he is not really in control of it, though he can sometimes force it to swerve slightly in a direction of his choosing if he manages to throw himself hard enough and strategically enough in one direction or another.

*USAGE NOTE: Because I am on a Nook, I can't get the italics to work properly, so Ihad to use quotation marks around titles that really should be italicized.

[heaven05]

57. I did

see that movie and it is analogous to the current POTUS situation. Thank you for a well put response. I don't think any POTUS, because of "compromises along the way" and other political system realities like banking and corporate control over the our political system, will ever be really free to be a leader of the afflicted and downtrodden in our society. I hope that nest of snakes can be cleaned out of the 'district', yet I don't feel thinking like that is living in the real world. Thanks again.

[tblue37]

58. heaven05, this is the link to my original DU2 post, in case you want to read it:

"Is Obama a "stealth" progressive? (Could be.)"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x631285

BTW, a few more points related to my post on this thread:

Although I am often disappointed over Obama's choices, I am also often astonished at what he has managed to accomplish despite the obstacles he has to deal with.

Another issue many people forget or are unaware of is that our political and legal systems are in many ways controlled by civil employees who cannot be easily gotten rid of from one president to the next. During the CheneyBush administration, they aggressively planted their own rabid right wing loyalists in civil service positions that they still hold. And now, of course, the Republican obstructionists in the Senate are aggressively blocking Obama from appointing judges, department heads, etc.

IOW, the Republicans deeply seed the civil service infrastructure with right wingers, then actively prevent Democratic presidents from getting their own teams into place when they win an election.

Furthermore, a president has a lot to deal with. I am reminded of those frantic plate-spinning jugglers on the old Ed Sullivan Show. At the same time that he is trying to keep all his plates spinning, Obama also has to constantly play whack-a-mole, trying to deal with each new crisis or obstruction the Republicans come up with.

[cascadiance]

24. Great! Left out one frame though... "Heckuva job Clappie!" n/t

[DirkGently]

35. Nice!

[rpannier]

40. Of course Clapper is great

The word Clap is in his name.
Like they clap for his performance.
The clapping has reached fever pitch.
Look at all those people clapping.
I heard James has the clap.

[NealK]

42. Yep, Clapper is awesome.

[Logical]

51. LOL! n-t

[progressoid]

25. Ouch.

[Douglas Carpenter]

28. knr

[creeksneakers2]

29. I don't think Clapper will be running the inquiry

I think its his job to appoint the people who will run it. At that time, if the nominations are public, I'll decide if the review is independent or not.

[MannyGoldstein]

32. Simpson and Bowles will be trotted back out

And oddly, they'll find that our national security can only be secured through dramatic cuts to Social Security.

[Octafish]

33. Followed by its privatization.

The risks inherent in such a system, of course, will be socialized.

[Enthusiast]

45. Manny!

[URL=.html][IMG][/IMG][/URL]

[Fuddnik]

47. Well, of course!

Terror Babies grow up, and when they retire they need those Social Security funds to build more bombs.

[MADem]

61. A week ago, even the GUARDIAN reported that he wouldn't be running it.

He won't be picking the members, either.

The White House has moved to dampen controversy over the role of the director of national intelligence James Clapper in a panel reviewing NSA surveillance, insisting that he would neither lead it nor choose the members.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/13/white-house-james-clapper-nsa-surveillance-review

[Warren DeMontague]

30. Heh.

[a2liberal]

34. K&R for a cartoonist not afraid to speak the truth. Support him by subscribing!

and get access to the cartoons the weekend before they're published, along with great insightful commentary... join Sparky's List (I was first clued into it by someone on DU)

http://thismodernworld.com/archives/7020

[TransitJohn]

36. Boom. Nailed it.

Love Tom. K&R.

[bobduca]

39. Tom Tomorrow Threads!

Nobody from my ignore list likes Tom Tomorrow!

[burnodo]

43. Tom Tomorrow Rulez!!

kick

[WCLinolVir]

46. I see what the president is doing.

It's a coded message that by appointing a known liar, he is telling us that he can't tell us the truth, they are holding his brain hostage. And man that takes some cojones. Or could it be an act of arrogance? As in FU for asking.

[Fawke Em]

48. And people on this forum still think Greenwald and Snowden

are drama queens.

Ugh.

It's not about them. It's about THIS.

[Logical]

50. Perfect! K&R

[Logical]

53. Again! n-t

[Ichingcarpenter]

52. kick nominated. n/t

[Logical]

60. One more kick! n-t