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	<title>Rube Reality &#187; Obama</title>
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	<link>http://rubereality.com</link>
	<description>Ruminations of an unrepentant rube</description>
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		<title>Democracy in Action!</title>
		<link>http://rubereality.com/2012/02/02/democracy-in-action/</link>
		<comments>http://rubereality.com/2012/02/02/democracy-in-action/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:47:07 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Herk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[1st Amendment]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Chris Dodd]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White House]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rubereality.com/?p=1125</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[As mentioned here, there was a petition to investigate Chris Dodd for bribery. Well, the White House has spoken: Thank you for signing this petition. We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on Whitehouse.gov. However, consistent with the We the People Terms of Participation and our responses to similar petitions in the [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>As mentioned <a title="Investigate Chris Dodd!" href="http://rubereality.com/2012/01/26/investigate-chris-dodd/" target="_blank">here</a>, there was a petition to <a title="https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/investigate-chris-dodd-and-mpaa-bribery-after-he-publicly-admited-bribing-politicans-pass/DffX0YQv" href="https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions/!/petition/investigate-chris-dodd-and-mpaa-bribery-after-he-publicly-admited-bribing-politicans-pass/DffX0YQv" target="_blank">investigate Chris Dodd for bribery</a>. Well, the White House has spoken:</p>
<blockquote><p>Thank you for signing this petition. We appreciate your participation in the We the People platform on Whitehouse.gov. However, consistent with the We the People Terms of Participation and our responses to similar petitions in the past, the White House declines to comment on this petition because it requests a specific law enforcement action.</p></blockquote>
<p>Or to put in another way, you can only petition the government if you&#8217;ve agreed to the <a title="White house gadget Terms of Participation" href="https://wwws.whitehouse.gov/petitions#!/how-why/terms-participation" target="_blank">Terms of Participation</a> and don&#8217;t violate them &#8211; and requesting that the executive branch do their constitutional job is <em>clearly</em> a violation of those terms. Seriously! Read the Terms, you chumps, and stop bothering that poor man &#8211; he&#8217;s heard your complaint, and that&#8217;s all he&#8217;s required to do. Besides he&#8217;s too busy fighting the good fight for the people that matter &#8211; his Hollywood campaign donors!</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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		</item>
		<item>
		<title>&#8216;Tis the Season &#8211; For Spending!</title>
		<link>http://rubereality.com/2009/12/18/tis-the-season-for-spending/</link>
		<comments>http://rubereality.com/2009/12/18/tis-the-season-for-spending/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 18 Dec 2009 07:21:01 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Herk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Bailouts]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ben Bernanke]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Congress]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Pelosi]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rubereality.com/?p=406</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Lots of last minute surprises from the jerks in D.C.: Obama signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill The House approved a $155 billion jobs bill: I guess the stimulus package wasn&#8217;t enough to create jobs, so spend yourself further into debt, it&#8217;s the American way! The House raised the debt ceiling by $290 billion to [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Lots of last minute surprises from the jerks in D.C.:</p>
<ul>
<li>Obama signed a $1.1 trillion <a title="Obama signs $1.1 trillion spending bill into law" href="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091216/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_spending_bill" target="_blank">spending bill</a></li>
<li>The House approved a $155 billion <a title="US House approves $155 billion jobs bill" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN1612851020091217" target="_blank">jobs bill</a>: I guess the stimulus package wasn&#8217;t enough to create jobs, so spend yourself further into debt, it&#8217;s the American way!</li>
<li>The House <a title="House approves $290 billion increase in debt limit" href="http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091216/D9CKL24O0.html" target="_blank">raised the debt ceiling</a> by $290 billion to finance six more weeks of spending: A $12.1 trillion debt limit, really, how quaint! And $290 billion over six weeks? C&#8217;mon Big Daddy-O, that&#8217;s not an allowance, it&#8217;s a pittance!</li>
</ul>
<p>Well, that&#8217;s $1.1 trillion spent, with another $445 billion, in just one day. Does <em>anyone</em> even notice anymore?</p>
<ul>
<li>Pelosi hasn&#8217;t even done a full year&#8217;s work, and she&#8217;s already <a title="Pelosi: 'I'm in campaign mode'" href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/72561-pelosi-im-in-campaign-mode" target="_blank">in campaign mode</a>: Has she ever left it in her political life?</li>
<li>The Senate Banking Committee rubber-stamped <a title="Senate panel approves Bernanke nomination" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BG3HU20091217" target="_blank">Ben Bernanke for another term</a>: What intelligent statesman that committee has! Apparently, 16-to-7 is &#8220;<span id="articleText">an unusual amount of opposition from lawmakers who are disgruntled over the Fed&#8217;s bailout of financial firms.&#8221;</span></li>
<li><a title="Obama, Medvedev may get arms deal &quot;in principle&quot;" href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BH08V20091218" target="_blank">Obama, Medvedev may get arms deal &#8220;in principle&#8221;</a>: Yes, Reuters actually ran the story with exactly that headline. I guess an arms deal &#8220;in principle&#8221; is supposed to be meaningful, but does a deal &#8220;in principle&#8221; lower nuclear stockpiles &#8220;in reality&#8221;? No, I didn&#8217;t think so.</li>
</ul>
<p>Apparently, spending ridiculous amounts of money is the only thing that can be performed with any efficiency or effect there.</p>
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		<item>
		<title>The Fox is Guarding the Hen-house</title>
		<link>http://rubereality.com/2009/12/04/the-fox-is-guarding-the-hen-house/</link>
		<comments>http://rubereality.com/2009/12/04/the-fox-is-guarding-the-hen-house/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:32:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Herk</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Politics]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tech & Science]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Obama]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Privacy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[White House]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://rubereality.com/?p=275</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[From a research paper published by some Berkeley researchers: The Obama Administration is considering whether to change policy concerning the use of HTTP cookies on government websites. Currently, government officials require a “compelling need” to use persistent HTTP cookies, and must disclose their use in a privacy policy. In light of this we arbitrarily chose [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>From a <a title="Research paper" href="http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1446862" target="_blank">research paper</a> published by some Berkeley researchers:</p>
<blockquote><p>The Obama Administration is considering whether to change policy concerning the use of HTTP cookies on government websites. Currently, government officials require a “compelling need” to use persistent HTTP cookies, and must disclose their use in a privacy policy.</p>
<p>In light of this we arbitrarily chose six government websites to determine whether Flash was being used to assign unique values to visitors. Of the 6 government sites we tested, 3 had Flash cookies. Three were set by whitehouse.gov, one of which was labeled, “userId.” Five of these sites used persistent HTTP cookies.</p>
<p>Whitehouse.gov disclosed the presence of a tracking technology in its privacy policy, but the policy does not specify that Flash cookies are present, nor does it provide any information on how to disable Flash cookies.</p></blockquote>
<p>The White House &#8220;<a title="White House disclosure" href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/privacy/" target="_blank">disclosure</a>&#8221; still doesn&#8217;t mention Flash cookies or how to disable them. It does however state the following:</p>
<blockquote><p>This persistent cookie is used by some third party providers to help maintain the integrity of video statistics. A waiver has been issued by the White House Counsel&#8217;s office to allow for the use of this persistent cookie.</p>
<p>If you would like to view a video without the use of persistent cookies, a link to download the video file is typically provided just below the video.</p></blockquote>
<p>If the White House videos can be viewed without the use of persistent cookies, than what <em>compelling</em> reason is there for this waiver?</p>
<p>This is so like this administration (and the several previous ones as well): Make a rule, then have the White House Counsel issue waivers for it. Obama&#8217;s first executive order was to forbid lobbyists from presidentially appointed positions &#8211; a waiver for that was issued before the day was out, and in less than a week, the second most important post in the Pentagon was given to a lobbyist. Not to mention Obama&#8217;s claim of &#8220;sovereign immunity&#8221; when it comes to lawsuits against the government concerning warrant-less wiretapping.</p>
<p>Until we have government officials who respect the Rule of Law &#8211; instead of the Rule of Individuals &#8211; and honor their oath to the Constitution, they shouldn&#8217;t expect anyone to trust them.</p>
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