On his first day President Obama showed that maybe times really are a changin – as per the words of Bob Dylan for those of you old enough to remember him. Some very significant “stuff” came down today as Obama spent his first day in charge in the Oval Office of the White House. While this is not really what’s on my mind, because I haven’t erased the caution flags I’ve got stored there regarding the so-called Grand Old Party, I do think Obama’s first day was impressive. One symbollic move which I applaud, he froze the salaries of all upper level members of his cabinet and administration. Additionally, he instituted an executive order which set some badly needed standards on the effect of lobbyists on his administration and on lobbying for those leaving his administration. He is also rumored to have instructed the military leaders to begin the pullout from Iraq and get it done within the 16 month timeframe he pledged in the campaign along with supposedly preparing an executive order to be made official tomorrow ending the disgrace in Guantanimo Cuba, commonly referred to as Gitmo. These are all welcome and impressive moves for his first day, but at the same time, there was plenty of news to sober us all up from the inaugural and make crystal clear the enormity of the challenge which lies ahead.

In a day or two I hope to post my thoughts about the gravity of the economic crisis that is more real than most Americans, even today with all the headlines for the past 4 months fresh in our minds, realize. This thing is huge, and Obama definitely faces some “difficult” decisions ahead. And the republicans are already rearing their ugly oppositional heads. It won’t be long and we will be hearing the “tax and spend” propoganda from them without honest accountability for what has gotten us into the crisis we are facing. They, of course, will claim no part in the problems that are choking our nation and will only get worse before they get better. Republicans are counting on the attention span of the American public to be about the same as my 6th grade students – which is about 10 minutes – for the good ones! This leads me in a way back to some of my rants as we approached the final days of GW Bush. If you’ve read any of those posts, you’ll remember that I said, on several occasions we will be dealing with the fallout from GW for years to come. Also, approximately three to four weeks ago, I wrote regarding the gravity of my concern about the warrantless wiretapping scheme perpetrated by Bush/Cheney et al on the American public at the expense of our constitution and in the name of fighting “The war on terror.”

I’m not trying to pat myself on the back here (well maybe I am, come to think of it – there’s got to be some payoff for reading all these books – and basically, unless someone steps up and comments on my “blog” I’m writing to myself anyway) but tonight one of the “workers” at the National Security Agency came forward, and on the Keith Olberman show (OK, all the Fox “News” buffs out there are going to discount this because it happened on Olberman’s show and Olberman is clearly biased – but the guy stated he didn’t come forward sooner because of his fear of retribution when Bush was still in office – that should be an eye opener in itself, even for the die hard republicans) he started what I believe will be a stream of “whistleblowers after the fact” from inside the Bush administration who are going to come “clean” with what they were doing, under orders from the top. This guy witnessed our government collecting EVERY phone call, email, communication they could get their ears to/hands on for the past six years (In fact, I’ve heard reports that this illegal wiretapping commenced prior to 9/11).

This is called “Data mining” and the government then filters through the information presumably in an attempt to stop the next terrorist attack – by the way, they should have stopped 9/11 with the tools they had prior to the World Trade Center tragedy – and, in reality, they are asking us to trust that they won’t cheat and follow in Nixon’s footsteps (probably earpieces would be more appropriate) by listening in to their “enemies.” If you want to get a clear picture of what they’re doing and the gravity of it, read James Bamford’s “The Shadow Factory” and you’ll not be surprised by what this guy said tonight. He’s going to be back on the air tomorrow, so if you missed it, and if you have any concern for the sanctity of our constitution, watch Olberman tomorrow (9/22) for the second half of this guy’s “story.” I’m telling you this tonight, if you’re not me and you’re reading this post, because Obama’s plate just got a lot more full! I’ve stated repeatedly that Obama needs to allow investigations and prosecutions of the Bush administration to go forward, or he will be threatening his own viability within his “base” and he will be himself participating in the undermining of the belief that we are a nation of laws and not men. He’s already under heavy pressure to allow prosecutions to go forward on the admitted policy of torture authorized and condoned by Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and others. There are seven “grunts” in Leavenworth for the abuses at Abu Ghraib, and Bush and the others are still walking free.

Well, now we have comfirmation that Bush/Cheney authorized a massive intrusion on the privacy of almost all Americans. Keep in mind that every time there is a wiretap without a warrant a felony has been committed and the penalty is 5 years imprisonment and a $10,000 fine! THAT’S FOR EACH INFRACTION! Well, these guys are well into the millions with this abuse and it is a direct attack on our constitution (the right to privacy), our legal system (the FISA law), and our general belief that our leaders take an oath to defend the constitution and faithfully execute the laws of the land. HOW CAN BARRACK OBAMA LOOK THE OTHER WAY? HOW CAN HE STEP INTO OFFICE AND SET HIGH STANDARDS FOR THE CONDUCT OF HIS APPOINTEES AND HIMSELF, AND THEN IGNORE AN OBVIOUSLY HUGE CRIME??? President Obama is really on the spot now.

There was a chance Obama was going to get bailed out on the torture problem, because I’ve heard multiple rumors that foreign leaders were going to go after Bush/Cheney if our leaders don’t. Now, wouldn’t that just beat all. We don’t have the spine to deal with these criminals ourselves so the French or the Germans or the Austrians do it for us. And from what I’ve heard in the quotes from them, they feel bound and determined to enforce the international laws that were originally put in place by, YOU GUESSED IT, The United States of America. I hope it doesn’t get to that because it would, in itself, bring President Obama down a notch or two if it happens – but now, on top of that OBVIOUS criminal action, we have possibly even more serious criminal action. I mean five years for each felony! We’re talking millions upon millions here! Of significantly more interest tonight, at least to me, the guy who was letting us know the truth about the true targets of the wiretapping, said the government was collecting information on members of the news media, listening in on phone calls, intercepting emails, spying on computer useage (a bit of inference here, on the last one). You could see Olberman squirm a bit, because I’m sure he realized what the guy was saying was that Olberman himself was a target. Probably a bit unnerving, even if you’re a prominent national figure. This is REALLY BAD, and it’s going to get worse – I believe more people are going to be coming out with damning information.

You will have the people like this guy who is doing so based on his conscience and you will be seeing a flood of “insider” books, similar to Scott McClelland’s “What Happened” hitting the shelves within a few months. I suspect some of them will be competing with each other to get the story out first because of the possibility for lucrative book deals while the story is still fresh and hot. The point is, aside from these two almost treasonous crimes, there is the war profiteering, the cronie politicizing of the entire government, the violations of the Hatch act (where administration cronies go around to the various agencies and “push” the company line – where non-partisan is the norm), the destruction of the Justice department, the outing of Valerie Plame, the energy task force and what they may or may not have agreed to and done, and the list goes on. President Obama might as well just let the prosecutions begin right now, to get this out of the way as soon as possible. For anyone out there who still doesn’t “get” the gravity of all this let me explain just one aspect of it to you.

You might be a republican and maybe even thinking you don’t want the democrats who now control Congress and the White House listening in on your phone conversations or reading your emails, without a warrant. Well, the mechanism is in place for our government, and virtually any government in the world that can afford a few thousand dollars to pay the companies in Israel who have developed all the listening technologies making all this possible, to view everything we write on our computers and send via email, or listen to virtually any phone conversation we have on land lines or cell phones. It will be much more difficult to get the technology removed than it was to get it deployed. That is the problem now – and worse still – the worst contries in the world, from the perspective of many people concerned about human rights, have the same technologies. Because the fiber optic lines wrap around the world like a few rubber bands on your wrist, this technology is readily available and widely used. Thanks to Bush/Cheney et al and our NSA, whose policy led to the development of this technology on a wide scale – governments all over the world are listening in on their citizens, and in places like Viet Nam, China, and other totalitarian regimes they are using this technology to squash dissent.

The damage we know about already, and it’s only day two of the Obama administration, is HUGE to say the least. I remind you, we are just at the tip of the iceberg, so to speak. So, as I mentioned the other day, it won’t be surprising if President Obama starts getting migraines. He’s got a lot of potential situations that could cause anyone to get a headache. Yes, he has to focus on the economy, he’s got a couple occupations that need a lot of work, there is a crisis going on in Gaza, republicans are starting their obstructionist tactics and some of Obama’s key cabinet officials are not yet confirmed, but the reality is that he just can’t look the other way at this stuff. I’m going to do everything I can to support President Obama as he tackles all these problems, including a bit of advice. Mr. President, it would be inappropriate to throw your shoes at GW Bush, but you should throw the “book” at him!