Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Obama continuing Bush's domestic spying policies???


     The Bush presidency appears to be the gift that keeps on giving. Just when we think we've heard the worst, someone like Wayne Madsen comes along and tells us that there is more...from the Obama Administration. Madsen, a political journalist, is claiming that domestic spying under the Bush administration may now have been even bigger, and started earlier, than previously thought. That's scary, but predictable. What's wierd is that this horror show doesn't end with Bush apparently. Madsen's NSA contacts are saying that Obama is now ordering DOJ attorneys to pressure US Judge Vaugn Walker to drop the lawsuit against the Bush Administration for his warrantless wiretapping program. We can also add to that the support for telecom legal immunity AND the continued love affair the infamous "states secrets" legal defense. Why? Because it all works so wonderfully! Seriously. That's the reason according to NSA insiders. Furthermore, this stuff might actually still be going on.
    
    Are we to believe this? Well, so far Obama seems to have done very little in the way of scaling back the excesses of Presidential power exerted by Bush.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation published an article in April of this year reporting that the Obama Administration was using the "states secrets" defense to get a case thrown out of court. Only 3 months after inauguration. He's supporting this stuff practically right out of the gate. By the way, look at his campaign counter terrorism fact sheet and see what it says.  Or I can spare you the time and tell you that it says what he didn't do where these matter are concerned. Does this mean Obama is untrustworthy? Not necessarily.  Some of this may also be that he is simply surrounded by all the wrong people.  Nonetheless, I'm starting to feel like we've been played, or are being played, for fools.
    
    I started out with this blog by essentially saying that this country didn't have real information policy, but I suspect that I was wrong on that bit. We do have an information policy: Your information is fair game. Policies were made; just not in the interests of American citizens' rights.

3 comments:

  1. Blog critique:
    I really like your blog! You have a lot of really interesting posts and everyone in this group writes very well. I wouldn't change anything. Well done!

    Kristine Towne

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  2. You all write with a lot of passion which is fun to read, but I'd like to see some more objectivity. For what it's worth, I would think that any information policy in the US be rooted in the First Amendment and branch out from there. I do agree that, from time to time, different administrations have gone afoul of what a free society should tolerate. Keep it up... love the energy!
    Paul Snyder

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  3. I agree that the domestic wiretapping program and other aspects of the USA PATRIOT ACT are troubling. It is clear that various protections afforded to Americans under the U.S. Constitution have been infringed in the last several years and that we as a nation have far to go in terms of regaining some of the ground that we have lost in terms of civil liberties.

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