More Change You Can Stick in Your Crack Pipe and Smoke it! Pt. 2

From Counterpunch, a devastating critique of Obama's business as usual:

I was ready to add Michelle Obama’s Spring Equinox planting of a Kitchen Garden at the White House to the positive change list – an idea I fully support. But, then Alexander Cockburn immediately pointed out the idiocy of advocating fresh, home-grown vegetables while appointing a Monsanto whore as Secretary of Agriculture.

The appointment of former Iowa governor tom Vilsack, the first 2008 presidential primary contender to withdraw (and then go on to support Hilary Clinton) represents no change at all from the pattern of appointing Agriculture Secretaries from a pool of former farm state administrators – every one tied to the Genetically Modified food giants.

[snip]

Vilsack, Geithner, Emmanuel et al., at least got their jobs. Even the inept Janet Napolitano now heads up Fatherland, er Homeland Security. What about the rest of President Obama’s appointments?

Retired four-star Marine General Anthony C. Zinni, former Imperial commander in the Middle East and a fierce critic of the original Iraq Invasion plan, was promised the job as Ambassador to Iraq in late January. He even met with Secretary of State Clinton and she promised the job. VP Joe Biden, a guy who’s “I’m smarter than you” hubris is in the same league with Geithner and Summers, sent his congrats.

The general, who had the audacity to call for the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld back in the run-up to the invasion, was ultimately bounced from consideration. The out-spoken general, not one to go down without a fight, wrote in an e-mail “As a sorry offer to placate me, they offered ambassador to Saudi. I told them to stick it where the sun don’t shine.”

Charles Freeman was ousted as candidate to head the National Intelligence Council. The bleating from some of the braver Dems (read: non-office holders or ones from safe Districts) is that Freeman was another victim of the always-odious Israel Lobby. True enough. Yet, a quick examination shows that Freeman must not have been vetted. He was already under investigation by the Office of National Intelligence’s Inspector General due to his unsavory financial ties to China and Iran.

Freeman had been serving on the International Advisory Board of CNOOC, China’s state-owned oil company. During the election, the Obama Campaign made noise about Charlie Black, a senior McCain advisor. The lobbyist Black held CNOOC as one of his clients, which led to condemnations from the Obama Campaign that "many of his (McCain’s) top advisors lobbied for companies (CNOOC) doing business with Iran or otherwise have a vested interest in Iran."

Yet, while Freeman sat on the advisory board just last year, CNOOC was given sanctions by the US Treasury Department due to its involvement with drug trafficking and worker abuse in Burma.

At the same time that Freeman was cut loose, we found out that Obama’s aptly-named “Urban Czar” nominee Adolfo Carrion accepted free home remodeling from architects and contractors while he served as Bronx borough president. Once again, it’s hard to see how he was vetted, given the issue surfaced as far back as November 2006.