Going the Way of Freedom's Watch

Ari's Freedom Switch is following its reverse inspiration, Freedom's Watch, and closing doors. Thanks to anyone who visited. Peace to all.

AAN: The Latest Iteration of Freedom's Watch

The Red team is starting a new political fund raising arm for the 2010 elections. It's called the American Action Network (AAN). WSJ reported:

Republican leaders expected to be affiliated with the group include former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Bush adviser Karl Rove, Republican strategist Ed Gillespie, and Republican donor Fred Malek.

A House leadership aide told Washington Wire today that Rob Collins, a political operative and senior aide to House Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia, is leaving Capitol Hill to be the executive director of the 501(c)4.

It follows the National Council for a New America and Freedom's Watch. AAN will have both a 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 component. A 501(c)3 advocates on policy matters while a 501(c)4 is an election arm. How might corporate money boost or intersect with AAN?

The real battle between the Reds and Blues is over money. Votes are a necessary inconvenience.

U.S. Beefs Up Persian Gulf Missile Defenses

The United States is adding Patriot missile batteries in the Persian Gulf to contain the Iranian threat. America already provided advanced missile defense systems to four Arab nations in Gulf region, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.

America also provides missile defense for Israel. I thought President George W. Bush would contain the blowback after an Israeli strike on Iran. It's now Obama's shift. Is it in the budget?

"Overseas contingency operations"—are projected to increase by $46 billion over 2010-2011

$46 billion could buy and deliver many bunker busting bombs.

Clinton Takes Break from Haiti to Push Iranian Sanctions

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the head of America's emergency response to Haiti, was in London for a meeting on Afghanistan and Yemen. Instead Mrs. Clinton pushed sanctions on Iran. The AP reported:

Iran leaves the world no recourse but to apply penalties aimed at curbing a fast-track nuclear program, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday.

So the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran went from a dormant nuclear weapons effort to fast track? Did we skip a few steps in the acceleration game? Does Israel need cover for their nuclear strike, threatened for what seems like five years?

Regarding Haiti, did Mrs. Clinton get USAID back to the world's premier development agency in one week's time? Shortly after she shared her vision at the Peter G. Peterson Institute, the earthquake devastated an impoverished Haiti.

Let's hope the world responds as well to future disasters as it does to war.

Sarkozy Warns Israel May Strike Iran

French President Nicholas Sarkozy warned of a possible Israeli strike on Iran's nuclear facilities, due to continued intransigence. Al-Hayat reported via Haaretz:

"Despite all our efforts, and a new engagement by the United States, and despite our ambitious proposals for cooperation, the Iranian authorities are blocked in a one-way street of proliferation and radicalism," Sarkozy said.

Iran ignored a 2009 deadline from the U.S., which offered a different reaction. The State Department, busy with Haiti, called Iran's response inadequate.

Sarkozy, like his American counterparts, sided with Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was busy denying his country would attack Hezbollah in Lebanon for the second time in four years. The language of war is exclusive, repetitive and incessant. It's a cycle worth breaking.

Corporate Freedom Flies!

The Helicopter Association International is fired up over today's Supreme Court ruling. Their website said:

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday, January 21 that corporations may spend freely to support or oppose candidates in federal elections, finally rendering a decision in a long-awaited case.

The Supreme Court Justices ruled that corporations may use money from their general treasuries to pay for campaign ads.

Corporations jettisoned their aim to provide good American jobs, now they can pollute the election airwaves with twisted campaign ads.

These corporations regularly settle with government attorneys for millions in fines, while admitting no guilt. CEO's testify before Congress that nothing is their fault, not even something they specifically ordered that later went bad. These corporations drive Caterpillar trucks through huge tax loopholes, provided by the same Congress.

Of course, not all corporations are bad, but the law doesn't discriminate. Corporations are free to further taint America's distorted election process.

The image above is from The Spider and the Fly. Here is a line from the nursery rhyme, where the trickster spider entices the fly:

"You foods will never wisdom get unless you dearly buy."

America's trickster Supreme Court greased the skids for corporate ad buys. Recall what an esteemed executive recently said about corporate leadership this past decade. GE CEO Jeff Immelt spoke of corporate meanness and greed, now free to buy campaign ads.

FBI Needed but a Whim to Spy on Citizens

Senator Obama's support for telecom immunity covered phone company backsides. WaPo reported on how little regard telecoms and the FBI had for citizen's privacy rights:

FBI agents seeking telephone records demanded information from phone companies in a variety of "startling" and illicit methods, including e-mail and post-it notes, in an "egregious breakdown" of safeguards and oversight.

The Bush "Just Us" Department found no problems with these methods. Orders to spy came from the top down. They did what they wanted from 2002 to 2006.

Will citizens be informed if their information was scoured? Will the paltry rationale be shared? That's the least a democratic government could do. Instead the Obama administration provided retroactive immunity. Now Change Means "No Change from Bush"